


Kenopsia

by Ars_Matron



Series: Harry Potter Omegaverse Week 2021 [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alpha Tom Riddle, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Intersex Omegas, M/M, Omega Harry Potter, Post-Apocalypse, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, some canon deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 16:48:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ars_Matron/pseuds/Ars_Matron
Summary: Eleven years ago the Dark Lord was lost while trying to put an end to a prophecy, in retribution his followers destroyed the world.Harry had never known a world outside of the boundaries of a charmed safe house and the protection of the Order. They don't have much, but at least he grew up happy and loved.Until, once more, the world began to change.___________Kenopsia (noun)The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet—an emotional afterimage that makes it seem not just empty but hyper-empty, with a total population in the negative, who are so conspicuously absent they glow like neon signs.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Series: Harry Potter Omegaverse Week 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2215593
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57
Collections: Harry Potter Omegaverse





	Kenopsia

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!
> 
> This is re-hashing...full write out of Returning Home. You don't need to have read it to read this. But if you want to, go ahead. 
> 
> Sorry this is also a little late, Harry Potter Omegaverse week kinds just snuck up on me. I have no idea! I was totally going to start these sooner!!! And well, I thought I had most of this first part done, and I did, but it looks like it was the one thing I managed to not save when I reformatted my computer!!! 
> 
> So...oh well. 
> 
> I'm behind. I will most likely stay behind. 
> 
> Day one is Canon Compliant (pack dynamics) 
> 
> For those of you who might be new to my ABO worlds. Female alphas and male omegas are born the exact same. They have both sets of genetalia and until they present (or it is found out what they are) they use gender neutral names and pronouns.  
> Harry is unpresented in this first chapter, so I hope it isn't too hard for anyone to follow. with that said, please enjoy!!

He moved among them. Less than a shadow. Hardly even there. A scent of something cold and terrible on the autumn breeze. 

Some few shivered as he passed by, assured by parent or lover or friend that it was nothing but the chill wind. They would shake themselves off and continue on with their merrymaking. 

He enjoyed moments like this. Where no one could see him, a long since perfected technique of his own. No cloak required, and no distorted outline of a spell. He was simply not there, even if he were to reach out and touch. No one would see. 

War and destruction had touched these people yet they still came out to celebrate Samhain in droves. They scurried around in their colorful costumes and handed out sweets to children and the dead alike. 

More than a few, no doubt, had died in the war. His war. And thus, by his hand. And now he walked among their joyful, and often tearful, remembrances. 

Slowly the families trickled away from the small square of Godrick's Hollow. Either to their own home and beds or carrying on the merrymaking into the houses as the hour grew late. 

He enjoyed that as well. 

When the street fell silent. When the only sound was the hollow rustle of dry leaves scraping paving stones, and the barely there whisper of his cloak on the breeze. He circled the statue at the centre of the square a few more times, counting, seeing what wasn't there to see. 

Fidelius Charms could only take away something, they did not change what was around the object protected. They did not take away the knowledge that something had once been, only hide that thing completely. 

He stopped before the space where a house should have been yet only a small patch of garden lay before him. The bells of the city church began to strike, and finally Lord Voldemort made his move. 

There was something poetic about ending this all at the stroke of midnight. Sealing the fate of his worst enemies and securing his own victory in the process. Unlikely as it was that Severus' little prophecy would ever come to pass, it was hardly an inconvenience to him to see that it never got the chance. Especially with such helpful and devoted followers. 

The password was simple, he spoke to the silent night, and soon a quaint little house stood before him, the windows lit festively, and the scent of warm spice heavy in the air. He crossed the short space to the stairs, to the door, dismissing the illusion that kept him from sight as he reached for the handle. 

With the charm lifted there was nothing in the world that could keep him out. No locking charm known to man, no incantation, no ward. He slipped in, a spectre of death rising from the darkness. 

The house was quiet, nothing but the soft soothing music from a radio that drifted from upstairs and the telltale creak of floorboard as someone moved overhead greeted his arrival. 

At the stairs he saw the man. Tall and thin with wild black hair and glasses. He wasn't needed, a blood traitor and a nuisance to Lord Voldemort's entire plan for the future. The waste of a man managed to yell just before the spell hit him in the chest. He had no wand on him to even begin to fight back or protect himself, so complacent in his trust of the charm to protect him and his family. 

What a pathetic excuse for an alpha. 

There came a pained scream from above, quickly followed by the footsteps overhead turning rushed and heavy as they raced from one room to the next, leading him exactly where he needed to go. 

The woman was small and lovely, bright green eyes and long red hair. The scent of spring blossoms and fresh rain would have been enticing, if it had not been soured with fear. He supposed he could see what had Severus in a twist over the young omega. As it was common for an omega to fall comatose after the death of their mate, and here she was, holding strong. 

And after all, he had promised. 

"Step aside," his voice was dry and cold as the night air, and he laced as much command into it as he could. Though, those who took precautions such has he, had to live with certain...draw backs. The loss of one's alpha voice was in no way a set back when placed up against immortality. 

He hadn't needed it for some time anyway. 

She shook her head, placing herself between him and the cradle, wand held toward him in a surprisingly steady hand. "Never," her voice was strong as well, for that her fear was evident in her scent and wide eyes. 

He sighed, if Severus had been less of a devout follower, less of a devoted apprentice, or less of a master at his craft, Lord Voldemort might have simply cut through the silly girl and left it at that. Instead he bound her, not with his voice but with magic. casting her to the side to be delt with later, all with the lazy flick of his wrist. WIth her bound and gagged, and writhing to be free, to save her child, he stepped up to the cradle at last. 

The babe in side was sitting up, taking in the whole scene with bright green eyes, their hair was as black as their father's and just as unruly, and the same acid green eyes as their mother's blinked up at him, open adn curious and without any of the fire. 

He had taken to thinking of the child as a she. For only another alpha could rise as great as he. She was small now but she could grow to be strong, the Order would bolster her, groom her to be their champion. It was possible that, if giving time, she could be a match for him. 

It was a chance he would not take. 

He rose his wand, pointed it at the child's head, and lost himself to a flash of radiant green light and the pained screams of a child. 

~~~

Harry woke with a start, breath coming fast, their heart racing in their chest, and the scar on their forehead aching with a dull and familiar pain. The dream was the same, there was a loud sound like an explosion and bright green light and screaming. Dumbledore said it was the night his parents died, the night Harry had been attacked by a Dark Lord that, even after ten years of being gone, people still feared. Not much was known about that night or had happened exactly, only Harry had made it out alive, with the scar the only scratch on them, crying pitifully in the rubble that had once been their home. 

An arm tightened around Harry's chest, pulling them back down to the bed. Hermione, pulled them close, though she was still asleep, and Harry tried to follow suite. On their other side was Ron, his gentle snoring usually helped lull them to sleep, but it was always hard after having the dream. 

That was the night that had changed everything. The last night before the world was cracked open by the Death Eaters in their revenge for their fallen master. They destroyed everything they could. Throwing away the statutes that had kept them hidden from the muggle world for centuries. They had reigned terror and destruction down, tearing the fabric of civilization asunder and remaking the world in their image.

That's what Sirius said, anyway. 

Ron had gotten a wrist watch from his parents on his eleventh birthday, and Harry could just make out the time in the faint moonlight and from where Ron had his arm flung out over Harry's chest. Midnight, their eleventh birthday. Harry sighted, this was supposed to be the year that they would have been sent off to school, sorted and slatted to learn magic in a far off enchanted castle. 

Harry tried not to be too upset that such a thing would never come to pass. It wasn't as though nothing would happen that day. Dumbledore would come, as he did every year for Harry's birthday. But this year was different. This year, Harry was old enough to be tested for their dynamic. 

Maybe they'd be an alpha like Hermione. She didn't look any different but ever since her birthday she had changed. She had settled on her name, Hermione, she said her parents had wanted that for her if she had been a female alpha, and she had started holding herself with her head held as high as it could go and her chest puffed up as big as she could make it. She was still small, so it wasn't much. But made Harry feel younger and smaller all the same. 

Ron's revelation of being a beta was far less of a shock, and he hadn't changed how he acted at all. But Harry supposed it was different for gammas. It wasn't just the dynamic that was settled for them, but their whole identity as well.

Either way they would be Harry. Sirius had said there had been no other name from their parents. Just Harry. Harry Lillian Potter if they were an alpha and Harry James Potter if they were an omega. And that was that. 

As futile as it always to fall back to sleep after having The Dream, Harry did manage. Waking up again to the sing song tune of Mrs Weasley as she popped her head in room to room down the long hall to wake everyone for breakfast. 

She leaned into their door, hair in a tidy bun and flour on her face next to a large and motherly smile, "happy birthday, Harry, dear."

Harry smiled sleepily, pulling themself up from the drowsy clutches of Ron and Hermione, "thank you, Mrs Weasley," they said around a big yawn.

"Alright, up, the lot of you, we're expecting guests today, I need you fed and out of the kitchen quick." And with that she popped back into the hall to finish her rounds. 

The house was large. Some abandoned manor from before The Breaking. There was plenty of room for the whole Order if they needed, with a garden in the back and it was right on the sea. It was one of the ones they visited most often in the summer. And, it was Harry's favorite of the Order's safe houses.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuffled out of their bed and began going through their meager wardrobe. There wasn't much to go around, and Harry was still wearing the robes that both Ron and Hermione were already growing out of, but it wasn't too bad. At least there was something for everyone to wear, and Mrs Weasley was good about repairing things. The robe Harry put on that morning had started out much bigger than it was now, after years of constant hemming it was just long enough for Harry to wear without tripping, the fabric had been a faded grey most recently, before Mrs Weasley had died it a bright red and handed it over to Harry. 

It was the closest thing to new robes that they'd ever had, and they were proud to be able to finally wear them for their birthday. 

The sounds of scuffing and arguing drifted through the hall as Harry bounded down the stairs. The Weasley's had a big family, and yet they had taken Harry in easily, and then Hermione when Dumbledore had brought her in when they were all four years old. There were other houses with more children and more families spread out across Great Britain, sometimes they all got together for short meetings and Harry and the others got to play with those kids. 

But that hadn't happened for a long time now. 

"Happy birthday, kid!" 

Harry laughed in shocked delight as they were picked up and swung around upon entering the kitchen before being settled against a strong chest in a bear-like hug. Breathlessly they managed a, "thank you, uncle Sirius."

Sirius carried Harry over to the table where he sat down and presented Harry with a jam covered scone and a large smile, "excited about today, pup?"

"Oh no you don't. Up, up, out of my kitchen!" Mrs Weasley was suddenly hovering over Sirius, wooden spoon in one hand and wand in the other, the spoon she pointed at Sirius' head as he rose and backed off in a manner one might reserve for angry bears. "How am I to manage to cook for everyone that'll be here later if everyone is crowding my kitchen!"

"But Molly," Sirius began in his reasonable adult voice that he didn't take out very often, but he was quickly cut off with a yelp as he dodged a whack from the spoon.

"No excuses, everyone out!" Then, with the flick of the wrist holding her wand Mrs Weasley summoned a tray of jam, honey, and butter, "here dear, take this out with the others, go on. You're eating out back today."

Harry took the little tray and headed to the back door where Ron and Hermione were waiting on him, Ron with a tray of scones and fruit, and Hermione with one laden with a pitcher of juice and glasses. 

Mrs Weasley turned back to Sirius, "and you have a meeting a get to," in a lower voice she added, "he's come back, he's in the conference room with the others."

Fearing what she might do if she caught them lingering, they all slipped from the door and onto the back porch, ears straining to hear even the littlest detail. Though nothing reached them but the low murmur of their whispered words. 

"Who do you reckon their talking about?" Ron asked, toting his tray over to one of the small wooden tables on the covered porch. 

"Dumbledore?" Harry guessed, placing the jam tray down too, "he always shows up for our birthdays." And this year was special, and he had promised not to miss it. 

Hermione shook her head, "he always comes later, and I don't think he would just show up and not say something to us, especially to you, Harry," she sat her tray down too and began to pour the drinks for everyone, Ron following her lead passed out plates and scones as well. "My guess," she said imperiously, "is that it's Snape back from one of his secret missions."

Harry nodded at that, it was about time for him to show up again. He only ever stuck around for a few days at a time, lurking in the shadows, scowling at everyone. He and Sirius never seemed to get along, and for a while Harry had thought it was just that two grown alphas bashing heads...but Sirius didn't seem to have a problem with Dumbledore when he showed up. 

Whatever it was, Snape never seemed to enjoy his time with them, and was often gone after Dumbledore came around to check in. Weirdly enough, he had never missed one of Harry's birthdays, though. 

There wasn't much left to do but eat their breakfast, the only noise that of the shushing sea as it brushed the shore and broke against some of the bigger, craggy rocks, and the pattering and hums of Mrs Weasley as she worked in the kitchen. 

They left their trays by the door and went off to explore the beach. There wasn't much else that they were able to do. Wands were a rare commodity and books even more so. They were some of the first things to be snatched up by the Death Eaters when they took over. Sometimes Dumbledore or someone would come back from a mission baring a book or old scroll, or some lost bit of magical history, and they would eagerly read, or handle whatever it was. 

It was never much, and it never felt like enough. The sad truth was that, even between the members of the Order and what little bits and pieces of the past they could scrounge up, there was simply no way for them to get the magical education they so desperately needed. 

That didn't mean there wasn't anything they could do. Hermione had always had a way with fire, the twins were often able to levitate things if they worked together, and even Harry was good at moving around silently when they wanted. They all had something they were good with, but it was hard and slow going to master any one skill. 

Harry knew that the adults were trying their hardest. They each, in their own way, tried to give lessons when they could and were doing their best. 

"Maybe Snape will give us another potion lesson before he has to leave again," Ron said as he climbed one of the craggy rocks, the brisk wind pulling at his loose and faded robes.

"He wants us to call him Mr Severus," Hermione corrected from her perch on a petrified log they all enjoyed sitting on. It was the best spot for soaking your feet in the surf. "I doubt he'll have time anyway. He always leaves right after meeting with the Order."

Harry tuned out most of the chatter, unable to focus all day as they looked towards the house almost constantly. Waiting for the hint of a brightly colored robe, or a kind face surrounded by long wispy white hair and beard. 

So far they'd only seen Fred and George fly out of the back door, Ginny hot of their heels and shrieking at them to return a possession to her. Sirius had slipped out for a tick, lighting the pipe he kept hidden from Mrs Weasley, to have a quick smoke before before slinking back into the meeting. He had given Harry a smile and a conspiratorial wink, which had been returned gleefully. 

It wasn't until the sun was dipping towards the horizon and the wind had begun to grow cool that the back door opened with a loud wail and a familiar cloaked figure stepped out. Harry hadn't been worried, he always showed up for their birthdays, but he had never cut it so close before. 

From all across the beach the children became aware of their guest, each shouting in excitement at they raced through the shelly sand to greet him. 

Harry followed a little slower than the rest, standing back at a bashful distance while Dumbledore absorbed the attention from the other children. Until sparkling blue eyes fell on them. 

"Happy Birthday, Harry."

"Thank you, sir," Harry said shyly, not coming forward until Dumbledore had crouched a little, offering Harry a hug which they ran too eagerly. 

Dumbledore pulled away, hands on Harry's shoulders and a mischievious grin on his face, he said, "let's go for a little walk before Molly comes out here and drags me into a boring meeting."

Harry giggled and allowed Dumbledore to take their hand and lead them off. They didn't go far. They never did. There were rocks and hedges all along the border of the charm that kept them hidden, so that no one stepped out fot he protective bounds on accident. 

Dumbledore stopped under an old magnolia tree, that was his favorite spot. Or so Harry thought. It was the one he always led Harry to on their little walks. He pulled an old ratty blanket from his robes, laid it out on the sandy grass and very slowly sat upon it. Harry folded themself down next to him, eager for what always came next. 

Dumbledore gave them another bright smile as he took out his wand and handed it, handle first, to Harry. "Do you remember what I taught you last time?" He asked, eyes twinkling with delight in the low golden sun.

"I think so," Harry took the wand, holding it in one hand like Dumbledore had shown them, it was warm from where it had rested next to his heart in a pocket in his robes. It was always so much lighter than Harry thought it should be, and they realized with some excitement that it fit a little more comfortably in their hand than it had before. Not quite as ungainly now that Harry's fingers had grown a little longer. 

Harry turned away from Dumbledore and the tree, glancing around until they found the perfect rock, then with swish and flick of their wrist and the chanted words, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The rock Harry had pointed to rose steadily from the ground.

"Very good, Harry! Very good!" He sighed and smiled in that distant and sad way he got sometimes, he said, in a softer voice, "how I wish for a wandmaker."

Harry looked down at the wand in their hand. It was polished, though there were worn spots here and there, it had always felt powerful in some way Harry could never explain. Maybe all wands felt like that? Sirius's did, though not as strongly. He didn't let Harry play with his as often though. Not unless he was actively trying to teach them something. 

"Are you excited about today Harry?" 

They looked up from the wand and into deep blue eyes. Everyone was asking them that today. The twins, both betas like Ron and their parents, everyone who had stepped out of the meeting for a bite or some fresh air. And honestly, Harry didn't really know what to feel like. Fifty fifty shot of being an alpha or omega...Sirius and Dumbledore, and even Severus and the other alphas were all nice. They were bigger, and more powerful. But Harry liked the betas just as well too. And Mrs Weasley made even Dumbledore cower when in her domaine. 

But the Order didn't have any other omegas that Harry had ever seen. They just..weren't sure how life would be if that's how they turned out. 

Harry just shrugged at the question. It was too big to answer...they did not have words for what they were feeling. Though Harry was pretty sure it wasn't exactly excitement. 

Dumbledore, sensing Harry's discomfort in the way that always seemed to understand when something was bothering them, perked up and changed the subject to another spell he was sure that Harry could master just as quickly as the last. They were able to spend a good amount of time under the tree, Dumbledore guiding Harry's hand and coaching them on incantations. He even showed Harry how, wandless they might be, it was still possible to use magic with a little certainty if they could remember the words and way the power felt as it flowed through them. 

The sun was nearly set when Mrs Weasley's voice echoed across the yard, calling everyone in for dinner. The house was packed and Mrs Weasley instructed them to make up plates from the kitchen and take them through the house somewhere. Sirius was there to scoop Harry up in the chaos, hauling them from Dumbledore and the heat of the kitchen and into the living room where he had already made them up plates and took over the softest of the couches. 

The meeting was ended for now and everyone made their way over to Harry throughout the meal to wish them luck on the 'sorting' so they called it, many with laughs that could not reach their eyes and others with openly sour expressions. Sirius held them closer whenever this happened. 

There were several faces that Harry didn't get to see often in the crowd. Uncle Remus and Tonks, Mr Moony and Mrs Bones. Even Severus was still there, holding a glass of wine in the corner that only seemed gloomy because he was standing in it, not talking to anyone overly much and scowling. Though he did keep sending pointed looks in Harry's direction. 

Every year it was the same, for as long as Harry could remember. He would come, lurk around all day, and then late at night when no one was around he would loom over Harry with a bitten off, "happy birthday," and bestow some odd present onto them. One year it had been a little lump of jade rock, another had been a tattered old notebook with scribbled down recipes in it that Sirius said looked like homemade potions. It was bizarre , but Harry figured it meant that Severus did like them, even if he didn't want other people to know it. 

Nerves were getting to Harry more and more as they night progressed and more and more people were talking about the sorting. They couldn't manage to eat more than a few bites of anything, and most of that was treacle tart and chocolate pudding. 

It was Severus who, stepping out of the shadows for the first time that evening and brought Harry the potion. Which, Harry figured, made sense. He had probably been the one to brew it. Severus placed the large glass goblet on the low table in front of Harry and Sirius, who had placed Harry on his lap for the ceremony, holding them tight about the waist. 

"I think you know how this goes," Severus said in his low and silky voice, "one strand of hair in the potion, blue for beta, which you will not be, red for alpha and white for omega." 

Harry breathed in and out, deep and slow. Then they reached up, took one strand of hair, and yanked it out, hardly even feeling it as everything turned numb and distant with all eyes watching. Then, carefully, they slid it into the clear potion. 

It took a while for anything to happen. First the potion potion turned yellow. An indication that the person who had put in the hair was still a pup, unpresented. Then it began to fade. 

It was clear what the outcome would be before the final color had settled. If Harry would have been an alpha then the colors would have started to fade to orange, then red. 

Murmurs broke out the second the bright yellow began to fade to a softer, washed out daffodil. They grew as the potion paled. By the time it was white there was a restless energy in the room. Omegas had become rare in the breaking of the world, though had not been so originally, evidently. No one quite knew what to do with this information. 

And it struck Harry then, so strangely and yet so profound in the whispered words and openly shocked looks, that the entirety of the Order had been expecting him to be an alpha. 

Sirius held him tighter. 

"Well," Severus said when the chatter slowed and finally died away, "I suppose this makes him The Boy Who Lived."

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovelies!!
> 
> Thank you for reading!! 
> 
> Due to a typo from our lovely and talented (and severely over worked) mod, Diamond, on tumblr today's prompt was listed as Canon Complaint. I liked that a lot better than Canon Compliant. So, for today's Canon Complaint I would like to talk about how there was NO reason for Voldemort to kill Lilly!!!  
> What, she says no and suddenly he can't overpower a single witch? Especially if Severus was so important to him. I mean, even if he's so far gone he can't feel emotions anymore it doesn't mean that he can't understand that others have them. You don't just throw away loyalty like that!
> 
> Granted, I'm not sure what Severus' plan was here. If Voldemort toted her back and dropped her at Snape's feet it would have completely ruined anything he might have wanted to flurish between them, but had he just shown up after her whole family had been murdered and tried to comfort her....I have a feeling she might not have been as open to that he was hoping either. 
> 
> Think it through man...she's not going to want you right after her husband and child have been killed. 
> 
> Anyway....The only reason it happens in canon is that her sacrifice makes the whole rebound of the spell possible. But James also died for them...for both of them. And so, we'll say that's the reason it worked here. And that Lilly died anyway in the explosion that ensued. 
> 
> I won't be doing these in the order of the prompts, and using mostly the keywords, I think. And I can't promise when the next chapter will happen...I'm fighing staying awake all day here, guys!!! This is the first time I've had to deal with the idiocy that is Day Light Savings Time in over two years. It's hitting hard....I'm making it through though. 
> 
> Let's see...this is a full(er) write out, and possible re-hashing of Returning Home, a one shot I wrote for last year's omegaverse week that I always loved and wanted to come back to. This might change from that story a little now that I'm looking a little closer at the details, I'll let y'all know before we get to Tom how that goes. I plan for this to cover before, during, and then after the events of Returning Home. I'm not giving myself a chapter deadline, as I don't know what it'll end up being, but I hope we cover most everything in the prompts from the week. We'll see. 
> 
> I hope you guys liked it, let me know what you think. Things will read a little more smoothly now that Harry has his dynamic and gender all settled. I think we'll be skipping a few years in the next chapter.   
> So I'll see you guys 
> 
> NEXT TIME!!
> 
> It's time to resurect a Dark Lord!!


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